This video is about the impact of the mail in times of trouble such as World War II, the San Francisco earthquake, 9/11 attacks, and Hurricane Katrina. It underscores how vital postal operations become when people’s ability to communicate is disrupted.

In this video two Illustrators, an art director, and curator discuss digital and traditional methods of modern stamp design.

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there's no piece of paper on the face of

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the earth that's more gone over than the

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square inch that comprises a postage

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stamp to me it's just a great honor to

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be struggling with that question of how

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do you make it look good at 1 inch

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square you want to public to enjoy the

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stamp and at the same time learn that it

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is American history I've been known to

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point at my stamps out on the street and

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show people's and total strangers you

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know I drew this I have to show them and

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tell them that that's my stamp

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I felt very good about getting the stamp

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assignment because it it said something

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to me it said oh boy here's a chance to

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document our American history when I

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first got the assignment I thought of it

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as just another assignment only then I

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began to think this is part of our

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country and part of our culture the fact

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that you can see what our country has

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gone through it's really exciting

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designed and illustrated 16 stamps

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including the Brooklyn Bridge stamp the

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four branches of government the quartet

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of jazz artists the lighthouse stamps

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and the signing of the US Constitution

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I've done probably like 20 images that

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have been made into stamps the lion and

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from the library wedding hearts I've

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done Christmas knitted stamps there was

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a series of animals Rockefeller Center

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it's a dollar stamp so I was pretty

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special

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I went to Rockefeller Center to buy it

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so that was kind of fun in the 1960s the

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Postal Service really sought out outside

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illustrators to depict the subjects that

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they wanted to to print on US stamps the

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art directors that the US Postal Service

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are responsible for going out and

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finding the actual illustrators or

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photographers very good question is how

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to approach the art for stamps that's a

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very small space and we can put a lot of

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information if it is structured so that

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the eye can see it at stamp size I think

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most people don't realize how much work

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goes into a stamp when I begin a stamp

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I'll do a little drawing that breaks

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down the shapes then I'll scan in that

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sketch

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and blocking the colors I work with

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acrylic paint the amount of colors

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available are tremendous I spent a lot

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of time refining it trying to simplify

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it trying to break it down to its

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essence I will work day and night for

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weeks bringing this together until it

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looks right to me

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you really have to simplify a statement

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and make it come through very quickly

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once I've established the large pattern

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I'm pretty much working with a number

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two sable brush and a magnifying glass

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sometimes in the middle of working on

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the stamp I will get up and walk clear

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to the other end of my apartment and

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take a look at it from the distance and

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get a little perspective on how it's

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going to be when it's a stamp size

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another tool we have it's old-fashioned

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but it works and it's called a reducing

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glass you just keep changing and

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refining and it's difficult to decide

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that you are done very often it's my

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deadline that decides that I'm done both

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the art director and the artists who

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actually create the images printed on

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the stamps want to get every little

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detail just right if they're showing a

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general and uniform is it exactly the

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right uniform with the right number of

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medals and stars if they're illustrating

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a lighthouse are there the right number

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of windows people want to count the

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bricks and make sure that he's got the

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right number of bricks I feel that I

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have been privileged to create a piece

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of art that will be printed and printed

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and printed and will be distributed

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throughout the country and throughout

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the world

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the exposure is extraordinary they may

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print 40 million stamps 60 million

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stamps when I've done a stamp and it

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appears on my mail

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it comes to my door I just think it's

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exciting I think it's really really fun

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I don't know why it gives me such a

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charge but it does

The composition of a stamp must be strong and original, and the design has other special requirements. A stamp image should be simple but eye-catching and stand out from the background. The design must reduce well, leave space for letters and numbers, and be difficult to counterfeit. Some stamps show works of art, but the designer does not merely copy the artwork. Rather, the designer uses graphic elements from the art to create a new design that works as a stamp.

This video traces the history of stamp production from nineteenth-century hand-operated presses to modern offset production with print runs in the billions.

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Changes in technologies and available materials have affected the look of stamps—and will continue to do so. Today engraving is still used to produce some stamps, but sparingly because of its high cost. Other methods include photogravure, which “engraves” the metal plate using chemicals and light rather than tools. Offset lithography uses flexible rubber or aluminum plates, which are not engraved at all. These processes are easier and less expensive than engraving, and they produce more colorful images. The look of stamps will continue to evolve with technology.

This video is of stamp collectors, including youth, talking about what they collect and why.

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as collectors we all have a fantasy of

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finding undiscovered treasure of putting

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the puzzle pieces together of having

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something that everybody else

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appreciates the essence of collecting

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whether it's stamps or coins or anything

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else is to bring order from disorder to

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put something together

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stamps cover a number of different

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subject matters and it's an opportunity

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to learn about so many different things

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[Music]

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collecting stamps is fun and it's

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cutting dosing like once you start you

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can't really stop

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I was interesting talking stamps because

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my dad also collected stamps when you

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stamp collecting is pretty cool because

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anyone can do it I was born and raised

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in Chile in South America and as a

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schoolboy I began collecting stamps we

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moved to the United States when I was 11

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years old and the connection to my

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stamps was way to still have that link

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to my heritage the history of my country

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all my materials that I collect are kind

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of esoteric most of it comes from

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relationships with friends and fellow

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collectors shared with others others

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have shared with me found my little

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treasures but I also found hundreds of

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people with whom I correspond I spend

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time with that true community is

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something that I really really treasure

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there's so many different stamps like

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any topic you want I have a lot of

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stamps from every country in the world

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this one is funny because has a big head

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and I like that they're interesting for

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that I was introduced to stamp

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collecting through one of my cousin's we

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started going to first day of issue

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ceremonies as well as stamp shows

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together stamp collecting does involve

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going out and

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interesting people that is what is so

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exciting about collecting it broadens

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the mind in addition to being a

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philatelist I'm also a genealogist and I

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have used stamps to chart the journey

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that my family has taken my early

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ancestors came from Guinea Bissau

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to the Bahamas and then P West there's

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absolutely no price for what I've

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learned from my stamps I have a large

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space collection that's like my number

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one probably more than anything I have a

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lot of animals this is like reptiles

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this is dogs and cats this one was about

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the first dog to go into space and that

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like mixes my two collections of space

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and animals and dogs I think that's cool

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about it I got started as a eight or

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nine year old rode my bike to the local

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stamp shop buying five and ten cent

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stamps a stamp collecting is a very

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satisfying hobby to see that it's the

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collection as opposed to just pieces of

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paper to note that it's something that

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you've embedded a lot of your own time

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and effort into is a very satisfying

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reward I decided to collect everything

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from 1847 to 1920 I collected the most

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complete collection of u.s. stamps ever

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the Z Creole is important because

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there's only one in public use and

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whoever had it had the chance to have

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the complete collection of your stamps

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it happened that the Z crow was in the

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hands of Don Sullivan

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Bill Gross wanted to add my stamp to his

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collection and I wanted to keep my stamp

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I loved my stamp and it's just wanted to

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keep it but I had a sense that he might

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be willing to give it up if he got

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something more spectacular the Jenny

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play block is coming up for auction and

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it's only sold a few times in my career

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Bill Gross proposed buying the plate

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block and trade it for my one cent Z

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grill it formed the complete collection

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so to me it was complete success in

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philately I like collecting horses I

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have like just a huge output with that

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from like all over the world

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I think covers are cool because

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sometimes they have like letters inside

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and of course it's like so curse if I

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can't write them letters cool I collect

04:36

- my favorite kind of stamps are

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Nigerian stamps with birds on them I

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love birds that's why I love the stamps

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anything that fascinates an individual

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in terms of collecting can be done

04:52

yeah relatively inexpensively cars

04:55

flowers the Civil War Mickey and Minnie

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and there is new characters it's a

05:00

wonderful way to express your own

05:02

interests or your own particular

05:04

enjoyment and sharing with family and

05:07

friends

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[Music]

Stamp collecting ranks among the world’s most popular hobbies. As many as 22 million people collect stamps in the United States alone. Stamp collectors represent all ages and walks of life. Some have very general collections; others focus on special topics. Most are intrigued by the diversity of people, places, and objects illustrated on stamps. They want to learn where and when stamp were issued, who designed them, how they were printed and used. To these collectors, stamps bring history to life. Most of all, people collect stamps because it is fun.

Dave Scott: Okay. To show that our good Postal Service has deliveries any place in the universe, I have the pleasant task of canceling, here on the Moon, the first stamp of a new issue dedicated to commemorate United States achievements in space. And I'm sure a lot of people have seen pictures of the stamp. I have the first one here on an envelope. At the bottom it says, "United States in Space, a decade of achievement," and I'm very proud to have the opportunity here to play postman. I pull out a cancellation device. Cancel this stamp. It says, " August the second, 1971, first day of issue. What could be a better place to cancel this stamp than right here at Hadley Rille. By golly, it even works in a vacuum.

National Postal Museum director Allen Kane and curators Cheryl Ganz and Daniel Piazza talked about some of the rare stamps and pieces of mail in their collection. They also toured the William H. Gross Stamp Gallery.